Website and blog for writer Cobalt Jade

Worldbuilding Wednesday 12/4/19: Birth Signs

An Asian Zodiac adapted for Australian use, with Australian animals in place of the traditional Chinese ones. I’m a platypus.

One of the perks of worldbuilding is creating a zodiac, or set of birth signs, for your particular setting.

The Western Zodiac* is the most familiar model and is named for the path the sun, moon, and planets take through the constellations on their journey through the sky. The constellation the sun is in when it rises becomes the birth sign for those born on that day, but the constellations other heavenly bodies reside in have an influence too. Such influences, in ancient times, affected all aspects of civilized life: when to plant and harvest, get married, wage war.

But there are other systems. Asian cultures have birth signs delineated by year instead of month, as everyone who eats at a Chinese restaurant with a paper placemat knows. They also come in a cycle of 12, each year named after animals, and each year also receives an elemental designation from a list of five (earth, water, fire, metal, wood) so the whole forms a cycle of 60 years. A Fire Monkey person is likely to be dying as new Fire Monkeys are being born.

Mesoamerican birth signs are a little more complicated, based on four interlocking cycles, one a year cycle of 365 days, the other a 260 day sacred cycle in which each day has a unique name, a number from 1 – 13 and a day sign from a roster of twenty. The cycle repeats every 52 years, so in that period, the only people sharing the same birth sign are those born on the same day.

But, back to the birth signs. The fun thing about them is creating correlations. My Western Zodiac sign, Virgo, has as its gemstone the sapphire, the aster as its flower, the hummingbird as its bird, and the maiden as its symbol. According to various memes, my Disney princess is Belle, my bread is whole wheat, and my wakeup time is 3 AM, “but then goes back to sleep and wakes up at 12.”

Whatever system you design, it’s easy to create a bunch of correlations for its birth signs through random generation or the roll of some die. Here’s some samples.

Semutal the Boar

Color:

Scarlet

Number:

7

Item of clothing:

Stockings

Part of body:

Feet, ankles, calves

Scent:

Clover

Habitat:

Wetlands

Foods:

Salmon, figs, parsley

Metal:

Copper

Element:

Metal

Time of day:

Dawn

Symbol:

Three crossed spears

Characteristics:

Confidant, teasing, fortunate, generous, self-indulgent

Goiox the Key

Color:

Gold

Number:

5

Item of clothing:

Gloves

Part of body:

Hands

Scent:

Tobacco

Habitat:

Mountains

Foods:

Chicken, turnip, onion, anise

Metal:

Gold

Element:

Ice

Time of day:

Evening

Symbol:

Key

Characteristics:

Bold, righteous, energetic, stubborn

Acas the Young Doctor

Color:

Gray

Number:

4

Item of clothing:

Wig

Part of body:

Hair and scalp

Scent:

Hazelnut

Habitat:

Urban

Foods:

Lobster, bananas, lovage, nutmeg

Metal:

Lead

Element:

Earth

Time of day:

Midnight

Symbol:

Three interlocked cubes

Characteristics:

Wise, faithful, inquisitive, detached

Shaajot the Wolf

Color:

White

Number:

20

Item of clothing:

Ribbons

Part of body:

Neck

Scent:

Spearmint

Habitat:

Tundra

Foods:

Eel, truffles, lemon

Metal:

Iron

Element:

Wood

Time of day:

Evening

Symbol:

A fang above a quarter moon

Characteristics:

Determined, mysterious, passionate, intellectual

One could go on and on with this, including chord, state of matter, sexual position, drug, type of literature, compatability with other birth signs, etc.